The Seeing Eyes and colourful thoughts

Hallegua Hall-Palette People Gallery & Artists’ Studio in Mattancherry (Kochi) is a world of colors waiting to be explored. The show, ‘The Seeing Eyes’, presented by students from The Velammal International School (TVIS), Chennai, provides a unique visual experience, including decorative woodcuts, mono prints, rope knots, black Kirigami works, terracotta works, watercolor paintings, and above all the photographic representations of Raja Ravi Varma’s paintings. What sets this exhibition apart is the way it connects with art education and appreciation, encouraging students to think outside the box.

An interesting segment of this exhibition is ‘Re-create/Re-Visit a work of Raja Ravi Varma - a modern Indian master painter’, in which they took their photographs in the costumes of the characters in the Ravi Varma paintings. This session was done while the lockdown period was on in the wake of COVID-19 and the students were lonely at home, and this aimed to rejuvenate their creative spirit. The response to the project was astounding, and around 300 students took part in the creative assignment. This assignment introduced the creative world of Ravi Varma to the students, and interestingly, some students even featured themselves as the legendary artist in his royal costume.
At the same time, through such creative interventions, CCC was able to expand to the household, the creative activities that were so far limited to the classroom, thus making every house an art school, in which the family members are also active participants. As part of this, an online interactive project by art historian Santhosh Kumar Sakhinala was also held for the students, which helped them come closer to the creative world of the great artist. 40 works are on display under this section, which reflect how the children from different cultures look at the works of the great master.

Watercolor paintings on display here demonstrate how a line, a color, an image, and even an empty space can become an artistic expression. The terracotta works also show how easily the students adapt to using this medium of baked earth, which is as old as human civilization. 

The woodcuts in the exhibition reflect the charm of rawness and equip us to see beauty in humble simplicity, taking us beyond the vanity of materialism. This approach of these works is rooted in the Japanese philosophy termed Wabi-sabi, which the faculty of Chitravathi Centre for Creativity (CCC) kept in mind while training the students to explore their creative potential.

The charcoal portraits in the show also have an interesting story to tell. When they sat face to face in pairs to make the portrait of each others, they were communicating with their eyes, said the students. “The face we saw in front of us was not an object, but a piece of art that carries an untold tale. These are the images that inspired our self, our inner being. These are the faces etched in our being. These are the expressions of camaraderie and creativity. There is no distinction between the artist and the model here, and they become complementary to each other,” they said.

Another interesting work is a Kirigami, ‘Dance with the devil’, done by Nitish, a 7th grade student. He is such a kid who enjoys simple pleasures of life, and he will be playing with little things he gets his hands on. Once just randomly he took a pair of scissors and a paper and started cutting it. He didn’t know what he was doing is called Kirigami, which is a Japanese art of cutting paper to form three dimensional forms and design without using glue. On asking who taught him this craft, he proudly said, “My mom”, said his mentors. “Once we realised he enjoyed doing it for hours without getting bored, we didn’t stop him. Eventually he started doing these intricate cutouts of monsters and different creatures of his own imaginary world, reflecting his growth as a Kirigami artist,” they added.

Another interesting segment in ‘The Seeing Eyes’ is a set of decorative rope knots in different colours. A knot is not just a knot but a piece of art carrying within it a long trail of history, according to the young artists and their mentors. “When we were preparing for this show, what our mentors said was about a port town called Kochi that attracted the world to its fold since the age of sailing ships, where we are having this exhibition. They also told us about the rope knots that have a great tradition attached to navies, especially the British Navy in the 16th century, and said that there are over 1700 decorative rope knots, each with its own name,” said the students.

Also there are huge paintings and small mono-prints on display in this show, comprising the creative works by a team of nearly 35 students under the mentorship of Chitravathi Centre for Creativity (CCC), the creative arm of Velammal Knowledge Park. All the works of art on display at ‘The Seeing Eyes’ are done as part of various mentoring programmes to chisel the talent and skill of the students.

Author and screenplay writer P F Mathews inaugurated show on February 28. Kerala Lalithakala Akademi chairman and Velammal Art Programmes Creative Director Murali Cheeroth, artists Di Ball, Man Ridley, photographer K R Sunil, Chitravathi Centre for Creativity HoD Biveesh B, Communications Head P Sudhakaran, among others were present. The show would conclude on March 10.